Find My Way? While I'm Still Here? Trent's personal retrospection to who he was during TDS days? What moves you the most about it?

For me, personally, nothing has moved me more in a looooong, long, LONG time when it comes to the remix of While I'm Still Here. The samples of the (now deceased) person speaking at the beginning,
then h/er partner saying the "ticking time is running out" line, coupled with the final sample at the end talking about finding their soulmate... Really makes you think about time and how we shouldn't take anything for granted. "The Persistence of Loss..."

If none of this makes sense, go to Wikipedia and look up P-Orridge and Throbbing Gristle.

I can't listen to that remix and not feel moved even after several thousand billion plays...

Totally

08-30-2013, 04:25 AM

13 [ 9.03 ] "

Ryan

08-30-2013, 04:27 AM

13 [ 9.03 ] "

Moving indeed.

Tiz

08-30-2013, 04:41 AM

Running: [0:21] This is one of those classic songs that somebody had to eventually write. Luckily for us, it was Trent.
Various Methods Of Escape: [3:26] Bridge into guitar solo. The drums make it for me.
All Time Low: [0:33] The crazy lead guitar/synthesizer/whatever that thing is sounds like a Fragile snippet.
Copy Of A: [3:04] The noisy breakdown is a beautiful segue into the quiet verses.

Totally

08-30-2013, 04:46 AM

tick .. tick .. tick

slave2thewage

08-30-2013, 06:06 AM

Two moments have jumped out at me:
- The way Trent sings "I'm okay" on WISH
- The last half of the remix of Find My Way.

Shadaloo

08-30-2013, 08:31 AM

The way it can be taken as a direct continuation of the events of TDS's narrative is really hitting me hard. The fact that this guy's still got all these personal demons, that his old methods of escape no longer work for him, and the realization that it takes something much more, from inside and out, to make him complete.

In terms of specific moments of lyrical delivery?

"I think....I could...lose myself in here..."

And

YES
YES OF COURSE
THIS IS GOING TO HURT

I'm also currently a huge fan of how the background drone on Disappointed, which set an uneasy tone live, is more like a freaking jet engine on the album. It's nasty and awesome.

brokenfragility

08-30-2013, 10:53 AM

Various Methods of Escape reaches me on a very deep personal level. I've had a very shitty past couple years of my life and every time I listen to it I tear up. I feel like the song is ABOUT ME.

Also I agree with the While I'm Still Here remix, it also moves me intensely.

Transfixed

08-30-2013, 02:03 PM

The parts that get me the most are: the chorus of VMOE, the amazing ending breakdown of I Would For You, the other amzing breakdown ending of In Two, the outro of Satellite, and the remix of Find My way.
A M A Z I N G!!!!

dlb

08-31-2013, 06:41 AM

copy of a [1:53] when that whirling noise comes in and the song goes off. this is also one of my favorite live moments from 2013.
copy of a [3:45] the "I'm just a finger on a trigger on a finger" line is awesome

came back haunted [3:21] I love how every effect is used at once after the guitar "solo". that's also the mark where the song becomes quite hypnotic and I could listen to it forever. spiraling groovy madness.

find my way [0:37] loving the sampled chants in the distance.
find my way [3:53] the "I've been to every place..." line gets me goosebumps

all time low [4:00] and onwards the song goes is just chill and sheer awesomeness. I totaly love the repeated "stretch across the sky" line and that Nintendo noodling.

disappointed [2:20] the second time that piercing noise comes in gets me pumped! vocal delivery, sound effects, everything is coming nicely together and I adore that oriental fiddling before that blimpy ending which reminds me of the Fragile in all positive ways (even deeper comes to mind, another all time favorite of mine) and I love how they do this one live with the guys on strings while TR is rocking the tambourine like a boss.

everything [1:09] "wave gooooodbyeeeeee!!!" wtf Trent?! But I will sing along to this every single time!

satellite [1:26] that guitar? fuck me sideways, that is one cool sound! I also love how this song rapes my headphones and eardrums. And evil pounding beat and exactly why I love songs like HTDA's BBB. This song also reminds me of the last album by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft which also has a song called Satellit and forces similar stomping beats down your ears. Wonder if Trent knows about them, but I'm sure he does.

various methods of escape [3:50] the moment the song comes back after another fragile'esque break down is what makes songs like sunspots so great for me and I'm sure if this ever gets performed live it will get me going in vicious ways! don't know why but moments like this in music strangely have me almost tear up and I get very emotional eventhough I haven't made a connection with the lyrics (yet).

running - while it's pretty forward and not as layered it kind of holds up my attention throughout which is a good thing. love it!

I would for you [1:13] the first time the chorus hits - I want to see that live! badly! the drooning towards the end and the piano part... with_teeth at it's best! I was hoping for a similar sound to return for basically 8 years and there it finally is!

in two [1:15] robot voice? fuck yes! and that falsetto afterwards? FUCK YES! the guitar is also great in this! the break down once again is out of this world! the record could aready end with this and I'd be happy!

as a non-native speaker I tend to listen to the music and how the words sound rather than dissecting the lyrics and their meaning so for that I have to give this record way more time, but overall this is pretty much the NIN record I was hoping for! the slip was great and year zero though ultimately being my least favorite record had its moments, but this HM is exactly what I had in mind for Trent in 2013 and it even exceeded my expecations!

mostlymad

08-31-2013, 08:36 AM

I admit right now, at this very moment in time, my life is pretty shit, so I'm driven to tears more easily than other times in my life. The first night, at work, when I was alone in the aisles, looking for wherever to put the shit from the day away, the line in "Various Methods of Escape:" "I've got to let go / I've got to get straight / Why'd you have to make it so hard / let me get away" was killing me. Not addiction for me, but still a bad, bad place I want to escape. I think it works for me like that, anyway. I would have a little echo of that feeling with "See, I keep lying to myself / Don't know what else there is to do / If I could be somebody else / well I think I would for you" too. I am still feeling choked up, just thinking about it.

binaryhermit

08-31-2013, 08:38 AM

Easily the last few lines of "While I'm Still Here"

Lew

08-31-2013, 11:47 AM

determination, desperation and dichotomies. all of these themes, as i perceive them, make this album intensely poignant.

WorzelG

08-31-2013, 03:31 PM

The way he sings the verses in I Would For You is really gut-wrenching

Ryan

08-31-2013, 07:02 PM

After "nothing ever stays the same" in While I'm Still Here, those little bits of guitar that pop in and out after each line (2:56, 2:59, etc), are small but really make the song for me.

fuckit

08-31-2013, 07:09 PM

"Yesterday i found out the world was ending"-- while i'm still here

Copy of A

08-31-2013, 08:11 PM

The rhythmic-centered production value in which the songs are built around rather than built from, if you know what I mean. The approach is flawless

pigpen

08-31-2013, 08:16 PM

Find My Way entirely.
I just project myself onto the song, let it represent so much of where I am at this point in my life.
It's easily one of my all time favorite nine inch nails tracks, as has been since I initially heard it on the Fuji show. I do kind of miss the rain.. ;)

joplinpicasso

08-31-2013, 10:34 PM

^^ Really great thoughts above.

I think I really connect to how subversively dark yet uplifting "In Two" actually is. "Thrive / just become your disease / leave them behind / you are free". Amazing. And that then build-up and crazy release.

This is in addition to how I swell up during "While I'm Still Here".

thefragile_jake

08-31-2013, 11:35 PM

Two moments stick out to me the most in Hesitation Marks, one being in "Various Methods of Escape" and the other being in "I Would For You".

In VMOE, the whole aspect of the lyrics in the chorus really resonate with me with the current situation I feel with this girl I'm seeing. We kind of go back and forth with each other and we really don't know what we want. If I wasn't so busy, I'd be able to figure out what it is I really want or don't want out of our situation...

"I've got to let go
I've got to get straight
Why'd you have to make it so hard?
Let me get away"

The bridge section in that track made me choke up the first time I heard it and to me relates to the nonchalant feelings I have about getting lost in her and not knowing what we both want...but just letting things be whatever they are.

"I think I could lose myself in here"

In IWFY, I was seeing a girl in a serious relationship for two years that sadly ended in 2009 because we just started having a lot of problems and one of those problems was me not being able to get my anxiety under control. She's since married and we just now finally started communicating again after our split was so horrible. I wouldn't really consider us best friends but we've emailed each other back and forth a lot this summer and met up for lunch to get a sense of closure....though she even agrees, with being married, it'll never kill the flame of what we once had. That being said, she always told me how amazing the two of us were but when I would have panic attacks how stressful things could be.

"See I keep lying to myself
Don't know what else there is to do
If I could be somebody else
Well, I think I would for you"

....is exactly how I've felt when looking back at how I used to be. It wasn't easy for me to battle my anxiety problems...and while I'm a 'little' better, those lyrics really take me back to a 2008/2009 me for sure.

Fred

09-01-2013, 12:34 AM

Trent's vocals on Find My Way sound very vulnerable, to great effect. Especially by the end up where "Oh, dear Lord, hear my prayer" is way deeper than his normal range. He's taking himself out of his comfort zone, and I think it sounds very sincere.

The "I just don't know anymore"-breakdown and the subsequent buildup in In Two gets me every time. It's very emotional, beautiful and spectacularly put together. It's a kind of NIN I haven't really heard since The Fragile. And as a little callback to Mr. Self Destruct and With Teeth, it combines sadness with loving nostalgia, which makes for an interesting emotional contrast.

Also had quite a goosebump moment the other day as While I'm Still Here segued into Black Noise. The combination of the lyrics of the former and the noisy despair of the latter is quite poignant when you're into it.

GentlemanLoser

09-01-2013, 01:36 AM

I have to re-state the first poster's opinion about the P-Orridge remix. When those samples, and the song are put in the context of P-Orridge's life, and the loss of h/er wife, it's just heartbreaking. Yes, the two of them were the most exotic of strange birds, but that makes it all the sadder, because of how rare that connection had to have been.

thevoid99

09-01-2013, 01:11 PM

For me right now, it's the remix of "While I'm Still Here" where I just love the lines that P-Orridge sings. It just adds a creepiness to that I like.

littlemonkey613

09-01-2013, 03:01 PM

Most resonant ending of any NIN album ever. Honest thoughts on his impending doom (and all of ours) with an upbeat background which then descends into that darkness. Beyond chilling. Despair inducing and most importantly incredibly sad.

Ryan

09-02-2013, 04:34 AM

Most resonant ending of any NIN album ever. Honest thoughts on his impending doom (and all of ours) with an upbeat background which then descends into that darkness. Beyond chilling. Despair inducing and most importantly incredibly sad.

Love that description.

mostlymad

09-02-2013, 07:29 AM

Gah. I'm doing well, already. Sorry. Redundant post.

utterben

09-02-2013, 07:53 AM

The slutty (sorry, it's the only word I can think to use) guitar at the beginning of All Time Low. (30 secs in.)
3:09 into Disappointed there is an incredible sound which I can only describe as an F1 car launching into space. Goosebumps. Big ones.
The last minute of Satellite is wonderful. Classic NIN. "I know you're up there somewhere."
The huge drums towards the end of Various Methods Of Escape. Bet Ilan had fun playing that.
In Two – there's a quiet With Teeth-esque breakdown. The guitar that comes in sounds very Fleetwood Mac. For obvious reasons. It's beautiful.
The cheeky guitar at around 3 minutes into While I'm Still Here. Love the softness of the song. Combined with TR's whispering, it's a great piece of music.

Matthias Plunkett

09-02-2013, 01:13 PM

I agree with Little Monkey, While I'm Still Here really struck a chord with me for a number of reasons. It's hard not to juxtapose memories of Trent's journey so far and not get that sense of a portrait of a man who has spent so much of his personal time pulling himself out of the pits of his inner turmoil to reach a certain point where maybe the skies have cleared for the first time in ages, only to realise that what remains is very finite in it's nature. I find myself coming back to the line 'Ticking time is running out' then projecting my own sense of mortality into the mix for god measure. I think the way the track segue's into the ominous growl of Black Noise, adds a further layer of dread into the closing moment of the album. The two tracks really got under my skin for those reasons.

In addition, I felt that returning to While I'm Still Here/Black Noise with the Breyer Orridge Howler Mix was a really clever move as in several ways, it adds emphasis to the original track, I'd even say it's much darker sounding. This time it's mainly Black Noise with elements of While I'm Still Here layered into it. Personally, to hear the father of Industrial music completing the album with his own remix then adding his own vocals into the 'Ticking time is running out' line, was just really cool and weirdly unsettling, almost as if another man is reaffirming the original line sung by Reznor. I see Breyer Orridge as something of a modern day Shaman, It hits another level hearing the man who started the Industrial music scene adding his gravelly vocals to the end of the album with the 'Path of the mind to the brain' refrain. The slowed down pig grunts that run all through that mix just add another layer of unease into the overall closing piece.

KarenLeslie

09-02-2013, 05:11 PM

After "nothing ever stays the same" in While I'm Still Here, those little bits of guitar that pop in and out after each line (2:56, 2:59, etc), are small but really make the song for me.

This. Exactly this.

Radiovoyr

09-02-2013, 08:00 PM

The way the vocals are treated on "In two" is really damn amazing. The heavy vocoding on the bridge before the first chorus and the lyrical content, while simple, I still think is some of his best/most painful.

"Leave - them behind, you are free".

Intense all the fuck over.

Also, "to shake to shake shake shake shake" on "Everything" really gets to me, but I think that has more to do with my multiple attempts at getting off of pain meds over the last year or however the fuck long.

joplinpicasso

09-02-2013, 08:17 PM

The way the vocals are treated on "In two" is really damn amazing. The heavy vocoding on the bridge before the first chorus and the lyrical content, while simple, I still think is some of his best/most painful.

"Leave - them behind, you are free".

Intense all the fuck over.

Also, "to shake to shake shake shake shake" on "Everything" really gets to me, but I think that has more to do with my multiple attempts at getting off of pain meds over the last year or however the fuck long.
Amazing posts regarding While I'm Still Here/Black Noise on the page before.

As for In Two, I also love the way TR's clean, growling vocals become present over the vocoding *just* at the end for the bit "wasn't me now"..Anyone else hear that? Also, those bluesy guitar lines hidden during the second verse -- tremendously cool.

dlb

09-04-2013, 04:39 AM

3:09 into Disappointed there is an incredible sound which I can only describe as an F1 car launching into space. Goosebumps. Big ones.

you fucker! :D Now that's stuck in my head simply because it's the truest metaphor for this sound to exist! :D

BenAkenobi

09-04-2013, 04:57 AM

F1 cars sound nothing like that. Don't trust what you hear on TV. If only a nin song could reach 1% as much punch...

dlb

09-04-2013, 05:16 AM

I know, same with air shows, but what you hear on TV is what defined that F1 sound in my head aswell and it stuck. And I like the image of one car launching into space whenever that sound comes on. :P

Ryan

11-05-2016, 01:34 AM

After "nothing ever stays the same" in While I'm Still Here, those little bits of guitar that pop in and out after each line (2:56, 2:59, etc), are small but really make the song for me.